Horripilation

Summary:Finished.
Six years after Breaking Dawn, a brutal murder is committed near Forks. When called in the middle of the night, Charlie Swan rushes off to do his civic duty and protect the public. Three hours later, he returns home with a new ward: the only survivor of the double homicide. From the beginning, it is clear that the poor thing needs a new start, a new life- and someone to save her from her old one, especially when ghosts from the past resurface. And, with Nessie determined to overcome her own demons, the two realize that friendship can come from the strangest places.

Notes:
All of this belongs to Stephenie Meyer. Duh…

29. Chapter 29

“Are you sure this is what you want?” Alec asked her. They were standing before the hut again, in the same half moon formation. It had to be a vampire thing, Iris decided, her hand sweatily clutching to Nahuel’s.

Silently, she nodded. It was not love, but it was the better of the two options. And she was horny as hell, that much was certain. Nahuel had been right: dominance turned her own more than anything else. And Seth, as big and as possessive as he was, would never think to hurt her or talk dirty to her or dominate her. He was too sweet and loving and perfect to ever think about making her the least bit uncomfortable.

Nahuel didn’t seem to have that problem.

“You won’t see another sunrise as a human,” he pressed. “You will no longer eat or sleep. You will not dream, and you will doubtlessly have limitless power. You will be a monster in the sight of many and you will crave the life force of all humans. You will kill thousands of them without a second thought, and you will be expected to come to Volterra eventually to undergo training so you may develop your latent powers.” He glanced at Nahuel as he said that last part, “And you will be stronger than your mate.”

Though it made sense, Iris had not expected that last one. But again, she nodded. “I understand,” she gulped out.

Alec nodded. “Very well,”

Gia looked around with wide, alarming eyes and kept glancing at her cellphone. She was waiting for someone. Her mate clutched her wrist, stilling her hand and her phone. Whatever she wanted to happen was obviously not going to anymore, and Iris was naturally curious.

Nahuel squeezed her hand. “Now?” he asked.

Alec shook his head. “Yes, tonight.”

Nahuel glanced at Iris who couldn’t bring herself to look at him. Her fear was palpable and she knew that they all could smell it. That was one of the first things Seth had told her about the supernatural world. She wondered what it smelled like, and if she could smell it herself. Discreetly, Iris tried to sniff her armpit.

Since his little mate would not look at him, Nahuel answered for the both of them. “Of course,”

Iris supposed he would want to do that a lot, now.

Alec nodded his head. “We shall linger until tomorrow morning, and make sure that the deed is done,”

As the words left his mouth, thunder groaned in the distance and the dark clouds overhead shifted, blowing in the invisible wind. Nahuel nodded and squeezed her hand again. The sun was setting in the distant, bathing them all in a golden light. None of the villagers dared leave the safety of their huts as the gods conferred. They spoke in languages uncomprehendable and gestured wildly––violently.

“Is Nahuel going to take the sun girl as a wife?” a small child whispered into his mother’s ear.

“Yes, child,” the mother whispered in hushed tones. “She is a sacrifice to the gods,”

“This was, Iris,” Nahuel spoke in English as he lead her to his hut.

She dug her heels in and shook her head no. “No,” she voiced. She needed to go somewhere different, somewhere faraway where she wouldn’t be reminded what she heinous act she was about to commit. Somewhere… “Private,” she managed to whisper.

His dark teak eyes glowed in compassion and understanding. “Of course,” he whispered. Scooping her up in his arms, he nodded farewell to the gathered vampires and disappeared. The wind whipped through her icy blonde hair, just another mistake. This time, it wasn’t trying to stop her or make her realize her mistakes. The wind didn’t even recognize her anymore.

Setting her on her feet, Nahuel looked at her with serious eyes. The sun was setting, and the world was once more in darkness. They were surrounded by looming trees who were there to bear witness to this transaction. The wind blew ferociously, still unknowing of Iris. Softly, the hybrid tucked her hair behind her ear and she was reminded of Seth. God, she was pathetic.

“Thanks,” she shrugged uncomfortably.

“No problem,” he replied.

“So…” she shifted her wait and swung her arms.

“So…” he agreed.

She chuckled and bit her plump bottom lip. “I have no idea what to do,” she said.

Nahuel smirked at her lie and she was slightly put out. She hadn’t been lying; she knew what to do with Seth just not a forced mating with Nahuel. “Just relax,” he told her.

She nodded. “Okay,” she said. “I can do that,”

He did that stupid vampire thingy where he moved way too fast for her to see and pinned her against the tree. His mouth was on her once more, and she realized that before the night was over, he was going to try to suck her lips off. It was not going to be fun at all for her.

As his lips gruffly played with hers, tugging them and nibbling on them, Nahuel grabbed her wrists and pinned them above her head. She was going to have no control, and no ability to respond other than moans and cries. He had total dominance, and that thought turned her on more than anything else.

His hands were soft but probing. One held her wrists firmly above her head as she jerked and bucked against him; the other roamed up and down her body. For a moment, his fingers played with her icy blonde hair, hair that wasn’t hers, and then continued traveling farther south. His hands were greedy, and roaming, but they were soft and weak. Not like Seth’s strong, calloused hands. Those were hands that made Iris feel safe and loved, hands that could protect her.

Nahuel let a hand slip into her shorts. Iris started to quake beneath his fingers, more scared than anxious and she was scared that he could smell that. He would always know exactly what she was thinking if her body kept telling her secrets. Their breath came out in snorts and jerks. She couldn’t make a sound, couldn’t moan in pleasure or pain. If she thought Seth was trying to eat her lips of, Nahuel must have wanted her entire face. His lips were everywhere as he sneakily snuck his hand into her pants.

She wished she could do something to participate, to maybe distract Nahuel and make him feel good, but he seemed intent on her being helpless. Pulling back, he stared directly into her eyes, panting just as heavily as she did. With a cocky smirk, he dove for her neck and started to suck on the juncture of her neck and shoulder. He chuckled as she gasped, and said, “It’s a vampire’s favorite part of your body.”

She wished she had some snappy comeback or the ability to throw him off of her instead. All she managed to get out––because his heavy ass was on her and she was having trouble breathing––was, “Hybrid.”

She did not have to see the glint in his eyes to know this angered him. His grip on her wrists tightened and he shoved her a little bit harder against the tree. Instinctively, she started to struggle and fight. Iris thrashed against the tree, and bucked against his brutal body, trying to get away. He was starting to scare her, and she knew he thrived on her fear as well as her arousal.

“I am still capable of killing you,” he threatened her.

Her gray-green eyes flashed. “Not when I’m a vampire,” she hissed.

“The boy-child was wrong,” Nahuel dismissed her. “No woman is stronger than a man. It is not the way of the world,”

“Try me,” she dared.

Nahuel threw her onto the ground before she could let out a cry. The air rushed out of her lungs as her back snapped up. She tried to breath, to scream for help, to tell someone that she changed her mind but she couldn’t even get her lungs to work. She couldn’t breath; her vision was starting to turn fuzzy. Was she going to pass out? Was this the end? Was she about to die at the hand of this pissed off hybrid?

Seth…

She would miss him the most, that stupid bastard that made her fall in love with him. She’d come back and haunt his ass, make sure he knew how miserable her last moments had been.

“Do not challenge me, Iris,” he warned her. “This isn’t your world, it’s mine, and I will act accordingly. No woman is above a man, and all women are property. Never forget that,”

He had her arms digging into the mossy dirt above her head, utterly useless as he leered down at her. His body pressed into hers, pinning her so that no matter how hard she fought, no matter how vicious she became, she could not get free. Right now she was powerless and he made sure she knew it.

But Iris would never back down. Not for him. “You don’t own me!” she screamed.

“They gave you to me,” he told her. “You gave yourself to me. I do, Pet,” he whispered. “I do,”

“I don’t love you!” she snarled.

Nahuel shook his head. “Pet,” he told her, “Why would I want your heart when I have your body? And love always grows from dark places, is nurtured regardless of circumstance. You do love me, you just don’t know it. I’m patient Pet. I will have all of you,”

“You’ll have to take it,” she told him.

His eyes raked over her body and he shrugged. “Very well,”

He was feasting on her mouth again, devouring her entire essence. He was determined to suck her dry and leave nothing for anyone else to ever find. She was going to belong to him in every way possible. If it was possible, he would even have her soul. She was his, and the entire world would know it. Even that ridiculous pup who persisted in loving that which was not his.

He could smell her fear, and it aroused him all the more. He could smell her arousal and feel the unconscious shifts in her hips and legs. Unknowingly, her body was preparing itself for him; somewhere in the crevices of her mind, she craved him with just as much ardor as he did her. Soon, she would realize that they were always meant to be.

Pulling back and letting their lips pop, he moan, “Iris,”

She let out a gurgled gasp; it felt better than she wanted to admit.

Unable to satisfy himself with just kisses, Nahuel ripped her skimpy little tank top in half. It was just in the way. Perfectly satisfied with watching her chest bounce and ripple, he started exploring the lower half of her body. His forehead wrinkled as he stroked her soft, smooth skin. “You shave?” he asked incredulously.

Iris bucked into his hand as it plunged in and out of her. “Body…hair’s……gross…” she wheezed out.

Nahuel smirked. “Good little Pet,” he latched onto her neck again.

Arms finally freed, Iris started to pull at his hair, hard. Yanking it back, she trying to pry his suctioning lips off of her, and peel him away. This was going to stop; it had to stop. Please, dear God, let it stop.

“Iris,” he moaned into her neck. He thought she was responding; he thought it felt good. Tears welled up in her eyes as she realized it was not going to end. This was going to be her life forever.

Eternity.

To infinity and beyond.

That was a really long time in Iris’s mind.

Tired with foreplay, Nahuel met her lidded eyes. She was so tired, so fragile and human. Every woman he had bedded always tired out easily. He had hoped that she would be stronger and fight to stay with him. Perhaps it was not the limitations of her sex but her human frailty that kept her from full passion. As soon as she was his mate, they would try again.

Flipping her over onto her knees, Nahuel draped himself over her. He felt so warm against her bare back, and his now freed hair cascaded like an ebony veil around them. He officially separated them from the rest of the world. He kissed her arched neck once and quickly disrobed her. She was bare, exposed for him to see and look he did. Her ass was rounded and arched up in the air, begging for him to take her. Her narrow waist flared out to it like a bell as he pushed her jiggling chest into the dirt. The perfect submissive pose.

Pressing his nose inside her, he took in a deep breath, reveling in the musk that she produced. His Pet smelled so divine and pure; nothing like that ridiculous wolf. It had taken some time, but the boy’s scent was now completely gone. He had no more claim on her. Climbing on top of her, he blanketed her with his body. He was bigger than she was, more powerful, but he wasn’t Seth, and he never would be. The hardness that pressed into her was as foreign as that tree; she would never want or crave it, but she prepared to submit. She wouldn’t fight the inevitable and be broken. She wouldn’t expend energy fighting when she would need it to survive. She she kept the tears locked inside her eyes and the cries inside her heart. She would be broken, she would be tamed.

“Iris,” he whispered in her ear. His breath was cool, frosty even and it sent chills down her spine. This was going to hurt. “I love you,”

She whispered, “I know,”

Nahuel pulled his hips back and thrust deeply. She bit back the scream of terror and pain that welled up in her throat. This was going to hurt more than anything else she had experienced.

“Get the fuck off her!” roared a voice in the distance.

Suddenly, the warmth was gone. The gentle wind rushed back to her side and chilled her, made her so cold that she thought she would freeze. It would freeze away the darkness, the sin, the impurities and leave her new. Or so she wished as she collapsed into the dark dirt, sobbing. Her knees gave out, her muscles were useless. She wished she could lay their until her body froze and the world decayed around her.

Behind her, she heard shouts and screams and the sounds of a fight. But It didn’t matter to her. Let Nahuel fight them off. He was supposed to be the protector after all. Let him protect her. When two arms scooped her, she didn’t care anymore. Let them see her naked, let them judge her. They were too small and skinny to be Nahuel’s arms, too cold to be human. Maybe it was an angel coming to take her back up to Heaven, to save her from this pain. That would be cool.

“Don’t touch her!” Nahuel roared loudly.

The angel’s arms were gone, like they had been jerked out from under her, and Iris was flying through the air. It kept getting weirder and weirder, she thought, as she face planted into a tree. It was nearly comical, like a cartoon. When would the Roadrunner run by chased by Wily the Coyote.

“She isn’t yours!” another voice screamed.

More angels, more saviors, more protectors. Thank you, Jesus Christ.

“She loves me!” Nahuel shouted at the top of his lungs.

Barely conscious, barely cognizant of the pain, Iris somehow managed to shake her head. She didn’t love Nahuel, not anymore, not ever. She had thought that she loved him, but she was wrong. She was just pissed at Seth.

“See?” this time it was a woman’s voice joining the foray. “She doesn’t want to be here!”

“She doesn’t understand what’s going on!” Nahuel screamed.

“What have you done to her?” someone screamed. It was someone she knew, a voice that she loved above all others. Her heart started to pound ferociously in her chest. No, it wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be. He wasn’t supposed to be here, he wasn’t supposed to love her. He loved Germain. She was his imprint. Around them, she heard paws dancing and wolves howling.

Groggily, she lifted her head up. Her eyes would not focus as the trees swayed and danced with the rhythm of the fight. She blinked, hoping to make sense of the blurs but it didn’t work. Barely, she croaked out, “Seth…?”

The pack. They had come for her.

“Iris!” Seth screamed.

She was laying on her stomach, still naked, and barely covered by her icy hair. Stretching a feeble arm out for him, she waited. He would come save her. That she knew with all of her heart. “Seth,” she called outi n a whisper.

“IRIS!” he screamed again.

He fought against Nahuel, trying to get to her, but the hybrid would have none of it. They moved too fast for her to see, but she knew instinctively that this was not a fight Seth could win. Not when he was in his human form. A strangled cry escaped her lips. She did not want Seth to die. Please! Somebody help him!

The pack would help if they weren’t afraid of hurting their beloved Seth. And the Cullens were trying: Emmett fought against his brothers, trying to spring into the foray. Jasper was trying to calm everyone’s emotions, but it only made Iris’s head hurt more. Alice was useless; she could not see anything. Nessie was screaming at Nahuel, pleading with him to stop.

In a moment of desperation, Dr. Cullen threw his body between the two, forcing them to stop. Esme screamed as the two skidded back, shock written across both their faces. The blonde vampire dropped to the ground, with gaping wounds on his chest. Shredded clothes littered the dark forest floor as he panted.

Her heart lurched. The kind doctor had cared for her so much did not deserve more pain. He was too good for that. Anger flared in her heart for the hybrid; he was supposed to revere the good doctor, not try to kill him.

“Dr. Cullen…” Nahuel whispered, horrified.

“Carlisle!” Seth yelled out in shock and terror.

“What have you done?” Alec appeared out of nowhere. He looked at the torn figure of his master’s good friend and glared at assemble mass. “What has happened here?”

Gia’s hand fluttered to her mouth. “Carlisle,” she whispered.

The guard murmured their agreement, aghast at the crime that had been committed. Esme knelt by her husband’s side, protecting him and loving him. He shook his head. “I’m alright,” he said. “I’m alright,”

Seth let out a chortled noise of relief, but no one else seemed capable of movement.

“They tried to take her from me,” Nahuel broke the unsettling silence. “She’s mine,”

Seth bristled, “You don’t own!”

“Hush, beast,” snapped Nahuel. “You know nothing of our laws,”

“We do!” Bella interrupted. Though she was ignorant in many areas of the vampiric law, she would fight for her sister and for her happiness. They were blood, and Bella knew how hard it was to survive as a human in the mythical, wondrous world. Iris would get her happy ending, laws be damned.

“Then you know that I have the claim,” Nahuel responded acerbically.

“Have you marked her yet?” Jasper interrupted. Other than Carlisle, he had the most knowledge of the idiosyncratic law. He would defend the small human.

“We were rudely interrupted,” Nahuel’s teak eyes flashed. He stood tall before them, with glowering eyes and blazing fury, just as naked as Iris, though no one seemed to notice. Nudity was the least of their problems at the moment. In fact, nudity may have made him more imposing. It took some balls to rant and rave naked.

Jasper’s eyes hardened. “Then she is not yours,” he replied. “She’s a free commodity,”

Nessie watched the two men banter back like Iris was nothing more than a piece of chattel. Because she was a human, and not a sentient creature in the eyes of the law. Her opinion meant nothing to them; she was an animal. Had she chosen Nahuel over Jacob, this would have been her fate.

“You’re feelings do not matter, pup,” Nahuel hissed threateningly. “Not when you gave her up so willingly,”

“I love Iris,” Nessie spoke up, defending her fiancee’s brother, and her friend. “I love her with all of my heart,”

“As do I,” Esme said as soon as her granddaughter finished.

“Me, too,” piped up Bella.

Two wolves that flanked Seth’s side barked in agreement. Dr. Cullen looked around and resolutely nodded his head, “We all love Iris. That does not make your claim to her anymore legitimate than ours. And by your ways, she is still her father’s,”

“Her father abandoned her,” Nahuel retorted. “Cast her out and left her for a woman and another man to raise her. He has no claim by our customs,”

“This is stupid!” Gia shouted, breaking up the pointless argument. Neither side would ever get up. The Volturi was a mediator to the spectacle, and dammit, they had to intervene and pick a winner. Now seemed as good of a time as any.

All eyes locked on Alec’s face. He would make the decision. Shaking his head, he said, “Carlisle, the law claims her because she knows the secret. Be it here with Nahuel or with us in Volterra, she will become a vampire.” When Seth opened his mouth to protest, Alec quickly finished, “Or her life is forfeit,”

That shut the mutt up quickly and his dark skin paled. He couldn’t bare the thought of his lover’s corpse lying in a coffin, buried under the moist Chilean ground.

“The shapeshifters and their mates are aware of vampires but are not turned,” argued Dr. Cullen. He stood to his full height, wincing in pain. Seth had nearly ripped his arm off. Thank God he hadn’t. Explaining that at work would have been a doozy. “If she remains as Seth’s mate, and as the pack shaman, she has the right to be afforded the same treatment,”

“She’s run away from them countless times before,” Alec replied.

“At Nahuel’s beckoning,” retorted the blonde vampire. “It was his lure––a lure you ordered––that pulled her from her home. No human, not even a soothesayer, can resist the call of a talented vampire. Or hybrid,”

Gia touched her mate’s arm. He knew what her will was, but Alec had to be sure that this was the correct path. “She forsake the life of the wolves, nonetheless, on her own accord. That, coupled with the fact that she is the only soothesayer in the world, makes her a threat to our stability. If they cannot keep her tamed, then she is a liability and will go to the highest bidder.”

A growl resonated deep in Seth’s throat. Alec shot him an icy glare but kept his focus on the patron of the Cullen coven. He was, at least, intelligent.

“The pack still has a claim,” he was arguing.

“How so?’ demanded Nahuel.

“Hush!” thundered Alec. Silencing the spectators, he looked sharply at Dr. Cullen. “How so?” he demanded, on edge now. Gia leaned forward in anticipation, eager to hear the words that would save Iris.

“She was born to bare the next shamanic child. It is this child that will lead the shapeshifters for the next several decades and help keep the peace as loyal allies of the Volturi. Until her duty to them is fulfilled, it is they who have the claim,” Dr. Cullen explained. “And there have been many precedents of this in the past where a human was left in the care of others until its duty was fulfilled,” he reminded the old vampire.

Slowly, Alec nodded. “That is very true,”

“Preposterous!” declared Nahuel vehemently with a wide swing of his arm. “The human submitted and gave herself willingly to me! That overrides any other claim!”

“Not necessarily,” replied Alec thoughtfully. “At my mate’s request, I have spoken in depth with the Masters on this subject. They have agreed that if the shapeshifters have a legitimate claim to the human then she shall return with and fulfill her destiny. Only then is she to be given to Nahuel as his mate. If the hybrid has ceased to exist during her time with the shapeshifters, she will go to Volterra and submit to the will of the Volturi,”

“You can’t decide someone’s life like that!” Seth roared lurching for the small vampire. Emmett and Edward quickly stepped in to restrain him. He was shaking with anger and the only thing that kept him human was desperation.

Alec looked at him with pity. He knew the pain and fear that the wolf experienced. He had almost lost Gia to the decision of the Masters, and he understood the terror more than anyone else. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “But that is what has been decided,”

“Seth!” Dr. Cullen called to him. When the wolf looked at him with pleading eyes, Dr. Cullen said softly, “Peace,”

He had to trust him. There was no other option but to trust him. It did nothing to quell the clenching terror in Seth’s stomach though as he settled back to watch.

Alec nodded his head in acceptance. “Then it shall be,” he told them. “Take the human and go,”

“See, Iris?” the spitfire mate of Alec turned to face the girl, smiling brightly. “I told you you would end up with Seth––”